Inventory Management

After a year-plus of remote schooling, students and faculty are flocking back to the classroom this fall — and stocking up on supplies for it. Deloitte forecasts that back-to-school spending will reach $32.5 billion this year, up 16 percent from last year and 17 percent from 2019. While this expected influx of business should be…

Wouldn't it be great if, as a brand or retailer, you could see the exact products shoppers will purchase before they actually buy them? In lieu of a crystal ball, brands and retailers have searched through many technology options, and digital shopping lists have risen to the top of their core resources. According to a…

Amazon.com sometimes speaks in mysterious ways. For example, sellers on the platform recently received a message saying, “Effective April 22, 2021, FBA products will no longer be subject to ASIN-level quantity limits. Instead, restock limits will be set at the storage-type level, offering you more flexibility in managing your shipments.” In plain English this meant…

If you're in the retail business, one of your worst nightmares is being stuck with boxes and boxes of unsold inventory taking up space in your warehouse. Wasted stock can be a huge cost to your bottom line and pose serious risks to your business. For eco-conscious brands, a lot of unsold inventory is also…

Like many industries, retailers are dealing with a shortage of labor at every level, from delivery drivers to store associates. As a result, they must often be prepared to do more with fewer resources, including handling irregular deliveries and replenishment schedules as well as managing available inventory for maximum efficiency and sales. Meanwhile, a new…

Location intelligence (LI) combines location-based data with business intelligence (BI) to uncover new business opportunities that were previously hidden. Identifying new patterns and establishing critical relationships between trends and demographics create a gold mine of opportunities for chief merchants, supply chain leaders, and strategists who are waiting to explore new avenues. As the demand for…

The use of automation technology to facilitate the seamless flow of information between product suppliers and retailers is critical to meeting consumers’ omnichannel fulfillment demands. Automation is necessary for retailers to not only satisfy their customers’ lofty expectations for buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup, but also to keep pace with their…

Online shopping has been on the rise for years, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, that growth skyrocketed in 2020. You just have to look at the trends from this last holiday season to see the proof: 71 percent of U.S. adults were planning to do more than half of their holiday shopping digitally in 2020,…

Over the past decade, e-commerce has seen tremendous growth, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated it further. The retail landscape has changed drastically, and retailers have had to find creative ways to compete with giants like Amazon.com. As we kick off the new year, it's top of mind for retailers to come up with strategies…

A year ago, we couldn’t have imagined that toilet paper would be the hardest thing to find on store shelves, or that we’d be wearing masks in stores and making purchases behind plexiglass barriers. What 2020 has taught the retail industry — and the whole world — is that a lot can change practically overnight.…